OUR SUCCESSES

The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) announced that Thom Hannum, University of Massachusetts Associate Director of the Minutemen Marching Band and Director of the Marimba Band and Marimba Ensemble program, is the recipient of the 2016George N. Parks Award for Leadership in Music Education. Thom will receive the award during the Opening Ceremony at the Bands of America Grand National Championships in Indianapolis on Saturday, November 12, 2016.

“The George N. Parks Award honors an exemplary music educator who embodies the characteristics and leadership that Mr. Parks showed his students every day,” said Michael J. Blakeslee, executive director and CEO of NAfME. “The recipient must have a collaborative spirit, dedication to knowing the students as people, perseverance and enthusiasm, and an ability to instill qualities in students beyond the musical. We are greatly pleased to present Thom Hannum with this year’s honor.” Link to full NAfME article

The project, of which Ricciardi is director and general editor, is a digital critical edition of c. 650 musical settings of the poetry of Torquato Tasso (1544-1595), the most prominent poet of late 16th century Italy. The majority of these musical settings, which represent the work of over 100 composers, are currently unavailable in modern edition and will be brought to the attention of scholars and performers for the first time. In so doing, the project will also illuminate the significance of Tasso's poetry for the musical culture of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.

Collaborators include Stanford University's Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities, and a team of editors from leading research universities in North America and Europe.

Professor Matthew Westgate, Director of Wind Studies, is coordinating a series of recording sessions on our campus. Faculty, students, and guest artists are recording three "lost" chamber works by Frank Martin: "Totentanz anz zu Basel im Jahre 1943," "Concerto for Winds and Piano," and "Rhone und Rhine." This is the culminating project of Westgate's Research-Intensive Semester.

Arts Laureate from Washington, D.C. is recording the CD, and it will be distributed by MSR Classics in 2017. This is a big opportunity for the students involved, sitting next to and playing alongside their teachers and other professional players.

Prof. Matthew Westgate

Lisa Lehmberg’s book Music For Life was recently published by Oxford University Press. With co-author C. Victor Fung, she focused on music participation and senior citizens’ quality of life. The book concludes with a challenge for music educators: act on the latest research to enable people of all ages to benefit from music, a substantial contributor to quality of life. More information/purchase at the Oxford website.

One of the best music schools/departments in Massachusetts and in New England, offering graduate and undergraduate Music Education, Jazz, Performance, Music History and Music Theory degrees and programs.